title: Ingested foreign bodies: a case series demonstrating a novel application of point-of-care ultrasonography in children.
abstract: In an era of recognizing the risks of radiation exposure, it is important to develop alternatives to radiographs. Bedside ultrasound has become an important adjunct to clinical diagnoses and procedural guidance in the emergency department. We present a case series of two patients who presented to a pediatric emergency department after witnessed coin ingestions. Point-of-care ultrasonography was able to accurately identify the location of each of the coins, at the thoracic inlet and in the stomach, as confirmed by chest radiography. To our knowledge, point-of-care ultrasonography has not been previously utilized to detect and localize esophageal foreign bodies in the emergency department.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medicine Residency Program, University of California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.forename: Stephanie J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Doniger
mesh_terms: D004435:Eating; D004630:Emergencies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D004947:Esophagus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009717:Numismatics; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011859:Radiography; D013270:Stomach / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014463:Ultrasonography